Special Events

DEDICATION OF THE QUEEN ELIZABETH II WALKWAY on Sunday, September 9, 2018.The Monarchist League of Canada, Halifax and South West Nova Scotia Branch, Halifax Regional Municipality and The Friends of The Public Gardens hosted a reception followingthe dedication. Honoured guests included: His Honour The Honourable Arthur J. LeBlanc, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia; Her Honour, Mrs. Patsy LeBlanc; Andy Fillmore,Member of Parliament for Halifax and Deputy Mayor Waye Mason for the Halifax Regional Municipality.

The Agave Americana in the Gardens

Thanks to Global News for a wonderful article and for providing this week's 'agave update'. Close up pictures of the blooms on the ends of the branches and at the topof the stalk opened up in mid-July.

Visitors, both locals and tourists, kept the area buzzing with conversation and lots of picture taking.

The Halifax Public Gardens has been home to this Agave plant for more than two decades. Agave plants flower only once in their approximately 25-year life cycle.

Public Gardens Archaeological Survey

The Victorian residents of Halifax operated an indoor skating rink in the Halifax Public Gardens in the second half of the 19th century. Though the old building is long gone, its location is suggested by historical mapping and at least one old photograph. This season, The Friends of the Public Gardens and the Halifax Regional Municipality are working with Dr. Jonathan Fowler of Saint Mary's University to conduct an archaeological survey of the ruins of the old skating rink. The research, funded by the Suellen Murray Educational Bursary, is applying ground penetrating radar and electromagnetic survey equipment to scan the soil without digging. Variations in soil conditions will allow researchers to map the subterranean environment to a depth of approximately 2 metres (6.5 feet), and, with luck, detect buried foundations and other features associated with the old rink. In addition to being an urban oasis, the Halifax Public Gardens is also a National Historic Site of Canada, and a rare example of a formal garden whose 19th century layout remains largely intact. Archaeological remains of the skating rink, which operated for thirty years and was an important social site in Victorian Halifax, are likewise a significant heritage resource. Do traces of the old building survive beneath the manicured surface of the Halifax Public Gardens?

Paint The Gardens

Following our 150th anniversary celebration in the Halifax Public Gardens last summer, there have been requests for similar events in 2018. One of those is Paint the Gardens!

Feedback from artists suggest they enjoyed the opportunity to paint, and from Gardens’ personnel and the general public we learned that people loved seeing artists in the Gardens. The Friends of the Public Gardens are delighted to welcome artists back to the Gardens this summer.